House robbed on Diwali

A gang broke into the Regent Estate house of a retired bank manager and took away cash, jewellery, all electronic items and other valuables on Diwali.

Among the items stolen from the ground-floor apartment of the two-storeyed house were two TV sets, a computer CPU, a DVD player, a defunct OTG and a microwave oven.

Police said Pradip Mitra, who had rented the ground floor of 144 Regent Estate, lived alone.

“I left home around 1pm on Tuesday for my brother-in-law’s house at Patuli. On my return at 11pm I found the main gate of the building open. I was surprised because I had left it properly latched. My worst fears came true when I found the lock on the main door broken,” recalled Mitra, who had retired as a branch manager of the United Bank of India four years ago.

On switching on the lights, he discovered that the 1,200sq ft house had been ransacked. “They took away two television sets I had in the two bedrooms. Two air-conditioners — one split and one window — were lying packed in one of the rooms. They took away both,” Mitra added.

The caretaker of the landlord, who lives in Siliguri, stays on the first floor.

“The caretaker had gone home on the eve of Diwali. The entire house was vacant when the burglars struck,” said an officer of Jadavpur police station where a complaint has been lodged.

“The cupboards in my and my daughter’s rooms were ransacked. Apart from the gadgets, they took away Rs 15,000, some of my daughter’s ornaments and all her expensive saris. Her suitcase full of branded woollens, too, has been stolen,” said Mitra.

Her daughter Titia Dasgupta teaches sociology at GD Birla Centre for Education and lives at Ranikuthi. “I wish there had been more police visibility in the area. The burglars must have been in our house for hours. But no one noticed them,” Dasgupta said.

“Thefts are common here,” said the caretaker of an empty house in the neighbourhood.

Mitra said he had passed on to the police the name and phone number of a recovery agent of a bank who had been “harassing” him.

“The gang had information that the house was empty,” said the police officer.

Death

One person died and two were injured after a Maruti Swift rammed into a parked Hyundai Santro, inside which five people were eating, on the Bypass, near the Bengal Chemicals crossing, early on Wednesday.

Arrested

Sheikh Raju was arrested on Wednesday morning in connection with an attempted car robbery in Picnic Garden on Monday night. Pradip Chakraborty was injured while trying to resist the attempt.